High winds blowing trees outside the rights of way into power lines are causing outages to over 2,500 cooperative members served by Blue Ridge Energy, primarily in Watauga County.

Line technicians have been working this evening to restore power for affected members, battling high winds, rain and falling trees and limbs. As of 10:30 pm, 2,405 are without power in Watauga County; 43 in Ashe County; nine in Caldwell County and five in Alleghany County.

Members should report outages to the Blue Ridge Energy PowerLine at 1-800-448-2383. Or, report it directly using the Blue Ridge mobile app, available for free in app stores.

Downed power lines are a concern. The cooperative reminds the public to stay far away from downed lines! Downed power lines can be dangerous, even deadly. Report downed power lines to Blue Ridge Energy at 1-800-451-5474 or call 911 immediately.

High winds and heavy rain were predicted to particularly impact Watauga and Ashe counties. Line technicians, additional contractor crews and all employees were on high alert, ready respond this evening.

Blue Ridge Energy serves some 75,000 members in northwest North Carolina. For more information, visit www.BlueRidgeEnergy.com.

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Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.